


Universal

by IntangibleHaze



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drama, F/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:01:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5343335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntangibleHaze/pseuds/IntangibleHaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five Japanese exchange students make plans to share a house. What hijinks will ensue when the group gets tangled up with grad student Mamoru and his band of strangely familiar friends?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We're An American Band

15 August, 2015

10:57 AM

Wanted: Roommates (Fairfax, VA)

Hello.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I've found myself without housing for the upcoming school year, and I'm urgently looking for someone to share a house or apartment with. Females only. Must be clean and quiet. I am a Japanese student studying abroad, and I'd prefer to room with those in a similar situation, if possible. You can reach me via email; please contact hino.rei@gmail.com.

Thanks.

Massaging her temple, Rei took a deep breath and clicked the  _post_  button.

"Unbelievable. All alone in a foreign country, and I've had to resort to posting on craigslist," she muttered darkly. Student housing hadn't seen fit to tell her that  _so sorry, they'd actually run out of available room in the dorms_ until  _after_ she'd arrived in America. Rei had done the unthinkable and actually resorted to going to her father for the first time in years.

_Yes, of course he'd help her with unforeseen expenses_ , came the reply, delivered through his new assistant, who sounded even younger than Rei. He'd even take legal action against the school if she wanted. Rei had quickly insisted that that wouldn't be necessary; she just needed a place to live for the semester...

It was a few hours later that the purple plastic-encased iPhone on the hotel desk vibrated with an email notification. Several of them, in fact. Rei noted that no fewer than four people had responded to her craigslist ad. After some careful and surreptitious social media snooping to make sure they were (outwardly, at least) up to her standards, Rei entered their email addresses into a group chat.

-hino.rei: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm contacting you all regarding the roommate ad I posted earlier.

-ameliabmizuno- Hello c:

-thundermako: hey!

-mscrescentbeam: yo

-maboroshinousagi: (:

-hino.rei: I guess I should start off by letting you know that I don't have a house or apartment rented yet. I'm assuming once I decide on roommates we'll take care of the rental details together.

-maboroshinousagi: wait

-mscrescentbeam: shit

-maboroshinousagi: we totally forgot to tell u when we replied but

-maboroshinousagi: Mina & I already have a house

-maboroshinousagi: & were looking to fill 3 rooms

-thundermako: haha, wow

-ameliabmizuno: This seems to have worked out unusually well.

-mscrescentbeam: wait wait

-mscrescentbeam: we still have to interview you guys first

-mscrescentbeam: to make sure you're not prostitutes/drug addicts etc

-maboroshinousagi: MINA

-mscrescentbeam: I'm literally sitting right next to you don't yell at me over chat

-thundermako: how soon can you interview me? i'm kinda desperate rn

-ameliabmizuno: Same here, unfortunately.

-maboroshinousagi: come by tonight! give us ur numbers & well text u the address

-mscrescentbeam: uh, sorry Ms. Hino

-maboroshinousagi: woops we hijacked ur chat

-maboroshinousagi: but are u interested??

Rei took a deep breath, looking at the messages that were flashing across her laptop screen. She wasn't sure what she'd expected when she posted that ad, but this definitely wasn't it. Still...

_It won't hurt to at least go to the interview. I can always turn them down,_ she thought to herself.

-hino.rei: Yes, I'm interested. Here's my number.

\--------------------

 

A few hours later, Rei was standing on the sidewalk in front of a pleasant looking multi-story house. She had elected to walk to her destination, forgetting just how humid the summer weather was, and the purple sheath dress she'd changed into was rather damp and sticky as a result. Rei twisted her hair off of the back of her neck, cursing her lack of foresight regarding hair ties. Hino Rei never appeared anywhere sweaty and disheveled. But she was never late, either, and if she wanted to keep that reputation, she had to get moving.

The ring of the doorbell was answered by a squeal and a resounding thunk from the depths of the house. A few minutes later, the pleasantly painted blue door opened and two lightly freckled blondes stood in front of her, one rubbing her elbow ruefully. At first glance Rei thought they were twins, but upon closer inspection she noted a few differences. One was slightly taller and more athletic-looking and had a waterfall of wheat-gold hair held up by a red ribbon; the other was paler, more delicate looking, with flaxen platinum buns and the biggest blue eyes Rei had ever seen.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! You came earlier than we expected," noted the one with the ribbon. "Please, come in. I'm Mina, and that's Usagi."

"Rei," she offered.

"Thanks for making our job way easier!" chipped in Usagi, who was fluttering about the entrance hall in a frothy pink sundress. A crystal pendant at her throat caught the light as she moved.

"I'm glad I could help," said Rei with a guarded smile. Normally she didn't take to strangers very easily, but something about the petite blonde made her feel strangely at ease.

"Can I get you something to drink?" asked Mina. "We have tea, coffee, coke- it's diet though, sorry- neither of us can really cook, but we ordered pizza; it should be here later."

"Ah, just water, is fine, thank you," answered Rei, and Mina whirled off to the kitchen.

"Let me show you around a little!" exclaimed Usagi, grabbing Rei's hand. Rei looked at the cheerful blonde out of the corner of her eye, but didn't protest as Usagi tugged her down the entrance hall.

"That's the kitchen to your right," said Usagi, pointing to where Mina had just finished filling a glass from the brita pitcher.

"Be forewarned, anything you leave unlabeled in here is fair game- probably for Usagi," added Mina, handing the glass to Rei.

"Hey! You haven't even met the other two yet; don't go pinning all the blame on me!"

"I still haven't forgotten the Great Easter Candy Debacle from last year," said Mina darkly, earning herself a smack on the arm from Usagi.

"Anyway," continued Usagi blithely, "that's the den to your left- we have a Wii but we're too poor for anything else. You wouldn't happen to have a Playstation, would you?" she asked covetously. Rei shook her head, and Usagi deflated just a little.

"The bedrooms are mostly upstairs," Mina took over. "Mine's on the top floor, and Usagi's is on the second. The master bedroom is actually on the ground floor, but if you take it, you'll have to deal with street noise and people coming and going, et cetera. Hmm, what else... oh, the washer and dryer are in the basement, so you won't have to go to a laundromat. Do you have any questions?"

"I don't think so," said Rei after a few moments. "You two are talking like I'm okay to move in, but you haven't asked me any questions yet."

"Oh, we didn't mean like an actual interview! I like you, and I can tell Mina does too," insisted Usagi. "But since you mentioned it, tell us a little bit about yourself."

"Well... I'm a Japanese student who got a scholarship to study history in the U.S. I'm 18, and for most of my life I worked in a Shinto shrine."

At that, Usagi demanded to know more, and Rei was in the middle of explaining how the elderly gentleman who ran the shrine was like a grandfather to her when the doorbell rang, and Mina went to answer it, her tanned legs disappearing down the hall.

After a minute, during which Usagi continued to interrogate Rei, Mina reappeared with two very different other girls in tow. One was tall, with coffee-colored skin and curly hair of the same shade, and though Rei thought she looked rather fierce she hung back almost shyly, holding a covered tray. The other girl was short and slender, with tortoiseshell glasses and a close-cropped dark pixie.

"I made scones," said the taller one, who introduced herself as Makoto. "I didn't think to ask if anyone was allergic though; I'm sorry!"

"All is forgiven if you can cook and you decide to move in," reassured Mina, who was eyeing the tray of scones with great interest.

"I hope we weren't too late," added the bespectacled girl. "I'm Amelia, by the way- but most people call me Ami."

"Do you two know each other?" asked Usagi, reaching out to take a scone.

"No, we actually just met on your doorstep," admitted Ami.

"Well, then, you can start by telling us a bit about yourselves."

Over the course of a few hours, several slices of margherita pizza each, and a trayful of chocolate scones, the five learned that they were all incoming freshmen who had grown up or spent time in Japan. Ami's father was German, but she had taken her Japanese mother's maiden name when they divorced, and she was studying to be a pharmacist. Makoto was half Japanese and half Moroccan, and her inheritance of her parents' estate had allowed her to study abroad. Mina had spent the least amount of time in Japan; she was estranged from her parents and had lived in London after being informally adopted by an older friend when she was 13. Usagi's parents had immigrated to the U.S. due to government work when she was young, but she spent every summer with her grandparents in Tokyo.

Rei thought it was odd that they all felt so comfortable with each other so soon after meeting, but her train of thought was derailed by a mighty hissing and squabbling coming from down the hall, and a few moments later two cats came flying past in a blur of black and white.

"Luna!" scolded Usagi. "Sorry, everyone, they're usually really well-behaved; they won't be like this if you move in-"

"The black one's Luna," explained Mina for the benefit of the other three. "Arty- Artemis, actually, but I never call him that- is the white one." Meanwhile, Usagi had picked up the black cat and settled it on her lap, where it curled up in a sulky manner.

Rei used the opportunity to check the time and realized just how late it had gotten. "Sorry, everyone, but I really should be going," she excused herself, standing. "Usagi, Mina, should I expect to hear back from you about whether I've gotten the room before the semester starts?'

The two blondes blinked at her for a few moments before Usagi said "silly, we want you to move in as soon as you can!"

"We want all of you to move in, if you want," added Mina. "I think we'll get along really well."

"I feel like we're all best friends already!" chirped Usagi.

The three other girls parted with promises to return tomorrow and start the move-in process. As Rei made her way back to the hotel, Usagi's words echoed in her head.

_I feel like we're all best friends already._


	2. The Prime Time of Your Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recreational drug usage occurs in this chapter, just as a heads up.

A few miles down the highway, a significantly less family-friendly exchange was taking place.

"Fuck!" shouted a bleached-blonde man, running his hands through his already disheveled hair.

"Something wrong,  _Jian_?" came a jeering voice from down the hall.

"Eat shit,  _Zoran_ ," shot back the first man.

"What's going on?" bellowed a voice from downstairs.

"Jed got drunk and ordered a shitload of stuff off Amazon again, and I'm guessing he just found all the boxes I oh-so-gallantly delivered to his room," replied Zoran with only slightly less volume.

There was a clatter on the stairs above them, and a tall man with silver hair in a messy bun appeared, pointing sternly at his housemate.

"You'd better not miss rent because you drunkenly spent all your money," he warned.

"He can always do like Zed did that one time," contributed the voice from downstairs, which had appeared on the landing attached to a mane of auburn hair and a vintage Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

"What, the time he crossdressed at the strip club?" asked Jian, looking infinitely more cheerful now that someone else was in the hot seat.

"You forgot the best part- he was there all night and no one even noticed he was a guy."

The door at the opposite end of the hall opened and a petite man leaned out, his copper hair strewn over his face like a distant European relative of Samara. He glared daggers at his compatriots.

"Okay, first off, fuck you, Noel, you fruity French-Canadian bastard," he hissed. "Second, I made, like, a thousand bucks that night, so I refuse to feel shame."

"Did you just wake up? You look like Cousin Itt," observed the silver-haired man.

"Kerim, you dumbass, I literally just said I brought Jed's stuff in earlier; how the fuck would I have done that if I was asleep? Anyway, you're one to talk, you hypocrite; you're shirtless and you haven't shaved in like a week."

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to pick up Mamoru from the airport in half an hour?" pitched in Jian. "He's flying in from Japan; he'll be pissed if you make him wait."

"This is Mamoru we're talking about; I don't think he's capable of anger," pointed out Noel sensibly.

"Anyway, the airport is like 20 miles away; it won't take me that long to get there," rebutted Kerim.

"In rush hour traffic it fucking will," said Zoran scathingly. Kerim looked at his watched, swore violently in a mater-of-fact tone, and retreated back up the stairs.

While the attention of the two smaller men was on their oldest housemate, Noel dodged nimbly past Jian into his bedroom, which had a pristine MacBook open on the desk next to a vintage typewriter and a crowded bookshelf taking up one wall. A jumble of distinctive Amazon boxes was piled haphazardly on the floor. Jian realized what Noel was doing and tried to tackle him out of the way, but the Canadian swooped in and gabbed an armful of boxes before beating a hasty retreat.

"Ooh, are you gonna open his mail and laugh at all the embarrassing shit he bought again?" asked Zoran, who had appeared in the doorway wearing a pair of ungodly tight jeans bunched up over green doc martens.

"Damn right I am," said Noel cheerfully. "I got so much enjoyment out of it the last time I couldn't pass up the chance to do it again." Zoran nodded approvingly while Jian, seemingly resigned to his fate, mumbled "fuck" under his breath but didn't make any further moves to stop his two housemates.

"Here, Zed, you grab the boxes," ordered Noel, before leaning over and physically slinging Jian over his shoulder with a grunt of effort. Jian thrashed wildly but the larger man refused to loosen his grip. Kerim, who had just reappeared down the stairs, now fully dressed, didn't bat an eye at the scene before him.

"Have fun torturing Jed, you guys," he said, thundering down the stairs. Moments later the front door slammed shut and the roar of Kerim's ancient Grand Cherokee filtered into the house.

\--------------------

Kerim eyed the bustling crowds at the airport with thinly-veiled ire. While he had the good fortune to be a few inches taller than the average American male, Mamoru decidedly did not, and Kerim was having significant trouble spotting his friend in the throng.

"Why the fuck did he have to fly back on a Friday?" muttered Kerim darkly under his breath, inadvertently clearing a space for himself in the crowd as people drew away from the strange mumbling man with a murderous look on his face. This proved to be a godsend as Kerim heard a shout of "Kai!" before a guitar case came into view, carried by a slight man with blue-black hair and a serious expression (the same expression that had, in fact, rubbed off on Kerim).

Mamoru was an orphan from Japan who had been adopted by an American couple and had just graduated with a double major in biology and political science. A year older than Kerim and Noel, Mamoru had been their RA freshman year and somehow ended up as an unofficial leader of their motley group due to his responsible nature, although the four housemates were unduly talented at dragging the usually-levelheaded man into their escapades.

"How was your trip?" asked Kerim once the other man reached him, dragging a hard-shell black suitcase behind him.

Mamoru shrugged. "It was okay. Tokyo seemed... weird. I can't explain why." Kerim nodded and didn't ask further. Mamoru had been known to spout some truly confounding metaphysical nonsense if prodded; Kerim remembered the time the man had subjected the four of them to a detailed analysis of the reasons they were crystals in a past life. Although somewhat scattered, the man was genuinely brilliant and Kerim wondered sometimes if there was credibility in the theories he was prone to spouting off.

They were halfway from the airport to Mamoru's apartment when he spoke again. "They asked me to TA for the poli-sci class this year."

"Oh? Is that good?'

"Yeah, I guess. I'm relieved to not have to TA the hard class my first year of grad school at least."

"Makes sense," conceded Kerim. "Listen, if you have time then, Zed wants to throw a house party a month after classes start. You know him, he needs a month to get everything ready."

"Ah," said Mamoru. "Well, I'll do my best to be there. Thanks for the ride," he added, noticing that they had arrived at his apartment. "Good luck."

\--------------------

When Kerim returned to the house he found his housemates sitting on the floor amidst a litter of empty boxes and assorted items, including a multi-use ladder, several assorted packs of Oreos, a set of Star Wars Christmas ornaments, and a huge Groudon plush. Jian was in the midst of passing a blunt to Noel, while Zoran was engrossed in watching what appeared to be a foreign retelling of The Little Mermaid.

"How was Prince Mamoru?" asked Zoran, who had coined the cheerfully mocking nickname after Mamoru's retelling of a dream he had had.

"Same as ever, answered Kerim, and his housemates nodded in recognition. Kerim held out his hand expectantly until Noel reluctantly handed him the blunt.

"Cheers," said the brunette as Kerim took a huge hit, exhaling the smoke in a lazy stream. "May this year be as eventful as the last."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guys have arrived! Sophomoric squabbling abounds.  
> Now that I've got the introductory chapters posted, I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of posting every weekend, if working holiday retail doesn't suck the very soul from my body. Future chapters will most likely be longer as well.


	3. There's No Real Reason To Be Lonely

"Ami!" exclaimed Usagi from her seat at the table. "You look nice."

Usagi, Mina, and Makoto were currently sitting bleary-eyed at the kitchen table, sipping coffee.

"I can't believe you and Rei both signed up for 8am classes," moaned Mina in disbelief. "I'm already regretting signing up for 9ams."

"That's because you stay up on tumblr until three," pointed out Usagi. Mina didn't speak a word of denial.

"Is Makoto alive?" interjected Ami, pointing to where the tall girl had slumped forward with her face flat on the table.

"Hhhhhhrg," responded the brunette from her prone position, earning snickers from her friends. 

The weeks following the girls' first meeting had been a whirlwind of Usagi-induced socialization, beginning with Usagi's horror upon realizing that Rei had never been to Chipotle, followed by a straight week of impromptu girls' nights out. When Ami had mentioned that it felt like she had known the others for a lot longer than three weeks, everyone else had agreed.

"Ami, you do look nice," agreed Makoto, turning so only half her face was pressed into the hardwood of the table top. "That blue shade is a really good color on you. Aren't you supposed to catch the bus to campus with Rei?"

"I am," replied the dark-haired girl, checking her watch with a worried expression. "We need to leave in the next five minutes if we're going to make it in time, though."

"I'm here," said Rei from the top of the stairs, as if she'd been summoned by the sound of her name. The violet-eyed woman was dressed impeccably as always in a red dress that contrasted sharply with her white skin. A black leather satchel hung from one shoulder.

"Okay, girls, we'll see you this evening," said Ami once Rei had caught up to her, shouldering her own cognac-colored satchel.

"Bye!" chorused the three at the table, rousing themselves from their collective torpor long enough to give their two housemates a cheerful sending-off.

A few minutes passed in sleepy silence before Mina sat up straight and said, point-blank, "shit." Usagi raised her eyebrows questioningly; Makoto had ambiguously returned to sleep on the table.

"I just realized I have a paper due tomorrow and I haven't even started it yet since my laptop's being repaired," the blonde elaborated. She counted mentally for a few moments before continuing. "I guess I'll have to stay on campus after class to finish it. Ugh," she groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. Usagi made various noises of sympathy and distress as Mina gently shook Makoto's shoulder to wake her up.

"Babe, I'm not gonna be able to come to hockey tryouts with you. I'm sorry! If you make the team- don't shake your head; I'm sure you will- I'll be the first person there at all your games!"

After that she dumped her coffee in the sink and raced upstairs; a few moments later the two remaining at the table heard the shower running interspersed with the sound of muffled ranting.

"I feel really bad for Mina," said Makoto sadly after a few minutes. "I know how important sports are to her."

At the opposite end of the table, a rather devious glint had appeared in Usagi's eyes.

"Uh-oh," intoned Makoto. "What are you planning?"

"I have all of Mina's info," answered Usagi gleefully. "I'm gonna see what tryouts are still open and sign her up."

"Isn't that kind of a bad idea?" asked Makoto warily. Usagi answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Mina's played hockey for years, ever since she quit volleyball in middle school. The change will do her good."

Makoto was about to respond when she was interrupted by the sound of Mina sprinting back down the stairs. In 20 minutes, she'd somehow managed to shower, apply mascara and false eyelashes, and re-curl her blonde mane, through which she was currently yanking a brush rather violently. She grabbed two slices of bread and slammed them into the toaster in a manner that suggested they had done her a personal insult before scampering back up the stairs.

"Mina, it's only 7:45; you don't have class till 9, don't you?" asked Usagi when her harried fellow blonde reappeared.

"No, you're right, but-" here she paused to stick an entire piece of dry toast into her mouth somehow- "that paper's 10 pages; I want to get started on it before class." Mina swiped on some red lipgloss without the aid of a mirror and then flailed about for a minute trying to put on her sandals, swearing the whole while. Once the offending articles of footwear were securely laced, she grabbed her backpack and tore out of the house, leaving a slightly dumbfounded Usagi and Makoto in her wake.

"It's like watching the Road Runner from Wile E Coyote," observed Makoto.

"Beep beep," added Usagi in an alarmingly good impression of the cartoon character. "You think we'll come home one day to find all our doorways painted onto the walls?"

"Well, neither of us have class till the afternoon," continued Makoto, changing the subject. "How about I teach you to make those peanut butter brownies you like so much?"

"Mako, I think I love you."

\--------------------

Noel Favager was a man on a mission, and that mission was to find a particular geology textbook, the existence of which he was starting to seriously doubt. The fact that his geology professor was about 95 years old and occasionally believed his students were soldiers under his command in Incheon only lent credence to Noel's theory.

"Fuck," swore the brunette man in a tone about three levels too loud for a library, glaring at  _The Human Lineage_ in a manner that suggested it would soon be the recipient of a violent outburst. Finally, he resolved to shelve his manly pride and do the unthinkable: ask a librarian. 

He was on his way to do just that when something caught his eye. Truthfully, Noel was a man whose eye was not hard to catch, especially when the "something" in question had long tan legs sticking out from under a white skirt and a veritable curtain of blonde hair spread out over the computer desk.

Noel's interest, which had been piqued by the appearance of an attractive female nearby, turned to outright amusement when he realized the woman was asleep at the computer. The word document open in front of her, which had presumably previously held something of academic importance, now simply read "ggggggggggggggggg" in a long unbroken scroll from top to bottom.

_It would be for the greater good if I woke her up_ , Noel rationalized, reaching out to shake the young woman's shoulder. She gave a muffled noise rather reminiscent of a death rattle and turned to face him, the look in her eyes the blank incomprehension of one who has just been woken from a deep sleep.

"Sorry," offered Noel, gesturing to the monitor. "I didn't want you to ruin your paper too badly." The woman looked at her computer, took in the mess on the screen, and said "fuck". Noel liked her already. He saw an opportunity and seized it.

"You look like you could use some caffeine. There's a good coffee shop just off campus; it'll be my treat." The woman smiled, good-natured mischief appearing in her eyes.

"Well then, Mr. Unknown Stranger, I couldn't pass up such a generous offer. I'm Mina, by the way."

"Noel," he replied.

Mina made a fluttering gesture with her hand, indicating the mess of computer and books in front of her. "Give me two seconds to clean up, and I'll be right behind you."

A the coffee shop, Mina agreeably allowed herself to be interrogated about various aspects of her life. She was half Japanese, she explained, indicating the somewhat unusual combination of facial features and flaxen hair; her housemates were all part-or completely- Japanese as well.

"My housemates are all kind of foreign too," Noel added, expanding on the topic. "We're all ambassadors' sons, so we kind of bonded over that when we met in elementary school. Kids are dicks," he appended.

"How very multicultural," observed Mina. "Well, I guess they don't call America the melting pot of the world for nothing." She glanced down at her phone, checking the time. "Look, I have to leave if I'm going to make it to class on time. Let me give you my number. I'd like to meet these housemates of yours. I'm sure my friends would too."  _At least Usagi and Makoto_ , she added privately. 

"Done," said Noel, returning the phone, cheerful in its sunny orange case. "Hey, I had forgotten, but Zoran- that's one of my mates- is having a house party in two weeks. You should come and bring your friends; it'll be fun."

Mina gave her promise and then sped off to class.

\--------------------

"Oi, Pippi Longstocking," said Noel after he had returned to the house, smacking Zoran in the back of his coppery blonde head. "I found some girls to come to your party so it won't be such a fucking sausage fest." 

Zoran glared up at the other man with thinly-veiled vexation. "I'll have you know that I invited plenty of women. Even Kerim will probably bring that one weird girl who follows him around his criminology class. What's that chick's name?" he directed at the silver-haired man, who grunted and shrugged.

"Anyway," continued Noel, "my point is that this girl was like, ridiculously hot." He drew a rough approximation of the female figure in the air with his two forefingers as if the other two would forget what a woman looked like otherwise. "If her friends are all like her you'll owe me so bad." Zoran snorted derisively, as it was his policy to ignore anything the auburn-haired man said on principle, while Kerim commanded Noel: "Elaborate."

Noel was in the midst of describing his chance encounter with Mina in the library when Zoran interrupted. "Can we actually get the iPhone speakers out for the party this time?"

Kerim and Noel rounded on the younger man with identical militant expressions. "You know the rules," said Kerim. " No digital speakers until we figure out who keeps playing Orinoco Flow from the cloud."

With that, the two older men kicked the ponytailed man out of the house so he could sulk somewhere outside of their range of vision.

\--------------------

Ami's first class had let out early, and she was currently sitting on a bench outside of one of the humanities buildings, waiting for Rei. She dashed off a quick message letting her friend know where she was before using her phone to check the weather. Though it was almost a week into September, the weather was still sweltering, and while the other three girls tanned well, Ami and Rei suffered daily under numerous reapplications of SPF 50+.

"Hey," said a voice from above her, and Ami started slightly before recognizing her friend.

"Do you want to get lunch while we have a break?" queried Rei, and Ami shook her head apologetically. 

"I actually volunteered to be the live model for one of the art classes, sorry. I'll treat you to lunch later in the week if you want."

Rei waved her hand, indicating that that wouldn't be necessary. "You're not going to be a nude model, are you?"

"Oh God, no," assured Ami. "And it's just for this week and the next, so I don't have to worry about being trapped if I dislike it."

"If someone makes you dislike it they'll have me to answer to," stated Rei militantly. Ami thanked her, but insisted that she didn't think it would come to that. As they parted ways, Ami thought about the quandary that was her new friend. She was unafraid to be blunt, but mostly preferred to ignore potential confrontation. However, Rei had a distrust of men that bordered on outright dislike, and Ami wondered if her proud and self-contained friend had been mistreated in the past. Ami put it out of her head, but not before resolving to make it clear that Rei- and any of the others- could always come to her if they wanted to talk about anything.

\--------------------

Zoran slouched into his class with his customary lack of interest in any of the electives he'd been forced to take in order to finish his engineering degree. He was wearing his standard jeans and boots with the addition of a shirt that proudly read "don't tell me the moon isn't real" in large block letters, which Jian had gotten him as a joke and Zoran had proceeded to wear near-constantly because it embarrassed the other man more than it did him. Vaguely, he heard the professor introduce the week's model for their sketches, but he was still engrossed in the multitude of tvtropes tabs he had open on his phone and didn't pay attention.

When he could procrastinate no longer, Zoran finally closed "power of the void" and dropped his phone into his backpack, turning his attention to the front of the class, where the model was standing, looking apprehensive, as though the class occupants were liable to hurl their sharpest art tools at her at any moment.

She was cute, admitted Zoran privately; fair-skinned, with glossy dark hair, and obviously athletic enough to hold the challenging pose in which the instructor had positioned her. The more he sketched, however, the more he realized that she was uncommonly pretty, her large dark eyes emphasized by the short cut of her hair, her hands held in graceful angles, her stance a smooth contrapposto. He tried to catch her eye as he sketched, but she kept her gaze cast down toward the floor for the entire class. There was nothing for it, then; he would simply have to catch her attention after class.

When the instructor dismissed the class after a seemingly interminable amount of time, Zoran hastily shoved his paper and pencils into his bag, heedless of any damage done to the expensive materials. He was packed up and ready to go before any of his classmates, but when he turned his attention back to the front of the room the girl had slipped out as quietly as a shadow.

\--------------------

By noon, the half-unoccupied townhouse had filled with the redolent sweetness of baked goods being prepared. With the brownies heating in the oven, Usagi and Makoto were tasked with cleanup duty. As she scraped eggshells into the garbage disposal, Usagi glanced at the cheerful pink calendar stuck to the wall and sighed softly.

"Something wrong?" asked Makoto, perceiving her companion's change in mood.

"Noooo," said Usagi slowly, in a manner that indicated something was very much the matter. Makoto waited silently, packaging excess flour to put away.

"I have my first poli-sci test tomorrow," began Usagi hesitantly.

"Do you need help studying for it? I'm sure Ami would be happy to quiz you when she gets back this evening."

"No, no, that's not it, insisted Usagi hurriedly. "It's actually... it's my TA."

Makoto's face turned thunderous. "Is he giving you a hard time?"

"No, it's not that; it's... Mako, have you ever been involved with someone older than you?"

Something difficult to name flickered across Makoto's face before she gestured for the blonde to continue.

"I just really, really want him to like me," said Usagi morosely. "And he's just so... impassive." Makoto put an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders.

"He'll like you. He doesn't deserve you if he doesn't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a lot of face claims for this story (yet), but in my mind Makoto looks pretty much exactly like Nada Adelle.


End file.
